Attractions of Ternopil district

The well-preserved Zbarazh Castle has been the residence of Lithuanian princes and Polish nobles for centuries.

The construction of a new fortress instead of the fortress in Stary Zbarazh destroyed by the Tatars was started in 1620 by Princes Hristofor and Yuriy Zbarazkyi, who commissioned a project in Venice from the famous architect and engineer Vinchentso Skamotstsi. His work embodied the advanced achievements of the art of fortification of that time.

The castle consists of a Renaissance-style palace, casemate ramparts surrounding it, an entrance tower and a moat. In the courtyard there is a siege well 70 m deep, connected by underground passages with the Bernardine monastery at the other end of Zbarazh.

In the 17th century, the new owners of Zbarazh Castle, Princes Vyshnevetskyi, fortified it with four bastions. In 1649 the castle withstood a seven-week siege of Bohdan Khmelnytsky's Cossack army, and in 1734 it was captured by the Haydamaks.

Potocki magnates in the XVIII century turned the military fortress into an ordinary palace estate.

During the first half of the XX century the building was severely damaged during the wars, and only in 1985 the restoration was completed. The State Historical and Architectural Reserve was established on the basis of Zbarazh Castle, it is the center of the Ternopil Castles National Reserve.

Archaeological and ethnographic expositions have been set up in the premises, a collection of weapons is on display, unique works of wood carver Viktor Lupiychuk are on display, and the diorama "Siege of 1649" is being created.

In one of the casemates there is a restaurant "Legend", in the manor house (XIX century) on the outskirts of the park opened the hotel "Hetman".